Remembering the Biak Massacre ten years on

4.7.08

By.....Herman Wainggai

In early July 1998 the small West Papuan island of Biak rejoiced. Rumours were circulating that President Clinton had officially recognised West Papua’s independence. Celebrations followed and the Morning Star flag was flown freely despite being a banned ‘separatist’ symbol.

Before dawn on Monday 6 July, after a night of revelry, a large group of young people slept near the town’s harbour. A mixed army unit drawn from four battalions approached and opened fire on these people as they slept.

The survivors, and others rounded up by a house-by-house search, were assembled around a large water tower where the Morning Star flag was fluttering above their heads. The flag was taken down and ripped into pieces.

For the next 24 hours those assembled there were beaten, raped and tortured. In a socially conservative culture, young girls and women were targeted while their friends and family were forced to look on.

Later, around 100 people were loaded on navy vessels and taken out to sea. The mutilated bodies washed up on the shores of Biak for many days.

The official explanation was that these were the victims of the Aitape Tsunami in Papua New Guinea. This is despite Aitape being 1,000km away, the tsunami occurring 11 days after the massacre and the fact most of the bodies were easily recognised by family members as their missing loved ones.

There is no shortage of evidence. Two Australian aid workers, Rebecca Casey and Paul Meixner, witnessed atrocities first-hand. Church reports documented at least 70 washed up bodies and include eye-witness statements. Human rights organisations spoke out at the time. An official report was compiled by the Jakarta embassy’s Major Dan Weadon, but never released for ‘diplomatic’ reasons. Then there are the survivors who have told their stories many times.

Not a single member of the Indonesian military has faced justice and the Government continues to deny the Biak Massacre.

This Sunday marks the ten year anniversary of this tragedy. It is a day of remembrance for West Papuans throughout the world and commemoration services will be held in many cities, including Melbourne. People often speak about Biak and East Timor’s Santa Cruz Massacre in the same breath, but Biak lacks the devastating film footage that brought the East Timorese struggle to a global audience.

However, the parallels between East Timor and West Papua are compelling. Neither were part of the initial post-colonial Indonesia and both were ‘integrated’ by military force. East Timor was given a genuine act of self-determination and chose independence. West Papuais still waiting for its chance to decide its own future and, like East Timor, will rely on the voices of the international community if this is ever to occur.

In a 2001 Sun-Herald article, Australian intelligence officer Captain Andrew Plunkett stated that the Biak Massacre ‘was a dress rehearsal for the TNI [Indonesian army] in East Timor’. It is quite possible that international condemnation following Biak may have saved many lives a year later in that country.

Today, my friends and family back home live under a military occupation. I spent two and a half years in an Indonesian jail for expressing my wish for freedom. Many others have died for doing the same. If this is all part of my people’s journey then I can understand. However, if the international community continues to be blind to our plight, blind to atrocities on its doorstep; if it continues to deny us basic freedoms in the name of economics and politics, then there will be many more Biak Massacres and much more suffering. In a week’s time members of the Australian West Papuan Community will travel to Canberra in order to present Prime Minister Rudd with a letter asking him to raise human rights abuses with the Indonesian Government.
He has already done so successfully with China.

In the meantime, we will assemble in cities, towns and villages on Sunday 6 July and remember the victims of Biak and the survivors who live on with physical and psychological traumas. We will take a few moments to be silent and hold these people in our thoughts. Then we will sing, dance and celebrate the future and go on.

Labels: Anti Colonial, Biak Massacre, Indigenous Resistance, Indonesian Human Rights Abuses, Self Determination, West Papua